Two Calais men charged with drug trafficking

CALAIS, Maine — Six pounds of marijuana with a street value of more than $13,000 was seized by Maine Drug Enforcement agents and Calais police earlier this week.

Law enforcement officials learned over the weekend that a suspicious package had been sent from Texas to this border community. MDEA officials declined Thursday to say who had alerted them.

The package was delivered to the residence of Larry Bowen at 80 Monroe St. Police had the Bowen residence under surveillance, MDEA division Cmdr. Darrell Crandall said Thursday. Shortly after the package was delivered, two men left the residence in a vehicle and police stopped them.

Agents and police, armed with a search warrant, then searched Bowen’s residence.

They found the package that had been delivered had been opened, and some of the marijuana already had been broken down into retail quantities, an MDEA press release said.

Police seized 6.6 pounds of marijuana valued at $13,200, as well as packaging materials from this delivery and two previous deliveries, which are alleged to have each contained 6.6 pounds of marijuana, the release added.

Bowen, 25, and Ivan Cabrera, 28, both of Calais, were arrested Monday and charged with Class C unlawful trafficking in scheduled drugs. Bowen and Cabrera posted bail this week and are expected to appear in Washington County Superior Court in March.

If convicted, the two could be sentenced up to five years in prison.

The marijuana had been compressed tightly into a small package, the release said, as marijuana often is when it is shipped from the southern border areas of the country.

Shipments of marijuana into Maine from that area have been far less common in recent years because of the availability of high-quality marijuana being smuggled into Maine from Canada. A single seizure does not qualify as a trend, but it is something the MDEA will be watching for, the release said.

Anyone with information on drug trafficking in a community should call MDEA toll free at 800-452-6457.